Bundesliga
Sadio Mane: Eclipse of a star at Bayern Munich?
It seems Sadio Mane’s move from Liverpool to Bayern Munich has not paid off for any party involved.
The Reds lost one of the cornerstones of their attack, while Bayern did not acquire a player who could at least partly fill the void left by Robert Lewandowski’s departure to Barcelona.
Mane has not performed to the level we saw during his days at Anfield by any means.
So far, the 31-year-old has scored 11 goals in 32 games. What might be shocking is that Mane has come off the bench in eight of these appearances this season. He serves as a bit-part player instead of a key man.
To make matters worse, Mane and Leroy Sane got into a physical altercation in the dressing room at the Etihad Stadium following Bayern’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.
The two already started arguing on the field when, during one of Bayern’s few attacks, Sane intended to play a short pass to Mane who instead made a deep run.
Moments later, Sane confronted Mane over what he considered to have been a mistake by the substitute, who had been on the pitch for only 14 minutes.
Once the pair returned to the dressing room after the game, Mane complained to Sane about the way he was spoken to on the pitch, which led to the altercation and left Sane with a swollen lip.
As a result, Bayern’s executives decided to suspend Mane from the Bundesliga game against Hoffenheim on Saturday and fine him. While Bayern do not intend to terminate the forward’s contract, they were convinced serious punishment was needed.
Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel stated that, in his eyes, Mane has received enough punishment, yet the clash has disturbed the team.
“I haven’t seen the incident myself, as I was in the coaches’ room,” Tuchel said at a press conference on Friday.
“It was important to me that we resolve that matter before the next training session. We did that yesterday morning. We cleared the air. We are not the first team where something like that happens, and we won’t be the last.
“It has caused a cleansing atmosphere.”
Since his arrival at Bayern in late March, Tuchel has maintained a ‘Mr Positivity’ persona. He even found many words of encouragement after the decisive loss at City, saying he is “shocked in love” with his new team.
But Tuchel is aware he has to worry about Mane.
“You need time to acclimatise after changing clubs even at that age,” he recently said. “Strikers like Sadio are sensitive, that is the key. It is about trust and patience so he can come back into a flow.”
Finding a flow usually requires feeling comfortable in your role on the field. Mane, however, has not found a role that suits him perfectly since his summer arrival from Anfield.
In the early stages of the season, former boss Julian Nagelsmann, who left Bayern on 24 March, used Mane up front in an attempt to find a replacement for Lewandowski.
But Nagelsmann realised Mane was not the kind of target player the Poland international had been for years.
Mane moved back to the wing but also struggled to discover his sweet spot in Nagelsmann’s oft-used 3-4-2-1 system.
If that wasn’t enough, an inflamed head of the fibula prevented Mane from playing for Senegal at the World Cup in Qatar and sidelined him for six weeks after the restart of the Bundesliga season.
Mane lacks the confidence of old
Tuchel seemingly prefers to use the former Liverpool star on the left side in a 4-3-3, or as one of a group of four floating attackers who try to crowd around the centre and break man-to-man coverage by switching positions.
Regardless of any discussions about tactical roles, Mane’s issues seem to go deeper than that.
He appears to have lost the confidence that once made him go into one-on-ones with any defender in the world. His creativity and unpredictability are, besides his goalscoring skills, what made Mane a special player.
However, since his arrival in Munich and particularly since he missed the World Cup, Mane often looks dejected. Even some of his team-mates are puzzled by the lack of intensity the frontman shows in training and games.
What exactly caused Mane to become a shadow of his former self is subject to speculation. But something is certainly off and which, reading between the lines, Tuchel has acknowledged.
The new manager has also mentioned trust and patience – two attributes that might not come to mind immediately when thinking about Bayern, who fired their head coach Nagelsmann despite a winning ratio of 73%.
Bayern are a club in uproar and Mane is a supposed star name on the downslide. It could be a toxic marriage.
-BBC
Bayer Leverkusen kept pace with Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich by beating Hoffenheim 3-1 on Sunday with goals from Victor Boniface, Patrik Schick and Jeremie Frimpong.
Leverkusen finished with 10 players after Álex Grimaldo’s sending off with half an hour to play. New signings Emiliano Buendía and Mario Hermoso made their debuts as Xabi Alonso’s team stayed six points behind Bayern two weeks before the top two clash in Leverkusen.
Bayern defeated Holstein Kiel on Saturday.
Boniface scored with his first shot at goal since his proposed move to Saudi team Al-Nassr collapsed. The Nigeria forward started for his first game since early November after recovering from a thigh injury, and he scored in the 15th minute with a shot that Hoffenheim ’keeper Luca Philipp should arguably have stopped.
Frimpong made it 2-0 four minutes later after Aleix García sent the Dutch wing back through.
Then Robin Braun became the first referee to announce a VAR call to fans in a Bundesliga game when a penalty he awarded to Nathan Tella for a foul by Hoffenheim defender David Jurasek was taken back — video replays showed the Leverkusen attacker was coming from an offside position before he was fouled.
Leverkusen’s match was among five in the 20th round trialling the NFL-style announcements, a change league officials hope will make the much-maligned VAR system more popular among fans.
Buendía went on for the injured Tella to make his Bundesliga debut before the break, and Schick went on for Boniface after it.
Buendía surged through the Hoffenheim defence only to see his shot saved by Philipp, but Schick was there to tuck away the rebound for 3-0 in the 51st. It was the Czech forward’s 14th league goal of the season.
Then Grimaldo was shown red in the 61st when Hoffenheim substitute Gift Orban went on for the visitors. Orban pulled a goal back a minute later.
Buendía made way for Hermoso to compensate for Grimaldo’s sending off. Though tempers flared at times, Leverkusen’s 10 men contained the visitors for the rest of the game.
Third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt drew with Wolfsburg 1-1 in the early game.
-AFP
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Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso said Victor Boniface will remain at the Bundesliga club, after the Nigerian striker was left out of their Champions League clash with Sparta Prague amid rumours of a move to Saudi Arabia.
Boniface returned from injury on Saturday but was on the bench for Leverkusen’s 2-2 draw with RB Leipzig after German media reports linked him with a transfer to Saudi club Al-Nassr.
He was then left out of training ahead of Leverkusen’s 2-0 Champions League win over Czech side Sparta Prague on Wednesday.
“He will train again tomorrow. I believe he is staying with us,” Alonso told reporters after that win.
“So I have to say that I am satisfied, I am happy. He is comfortable here, so I don’t believe that this is a big stress for him.”
The 24-year-old has scored eight goals in 15 games in all competitions. Last season, he netted 14 goals in 23 league appearances to finish as their top scorer and played a pivotal role in securing Leverkusen’s first Bundesliga title.
Boniface staying at Leverkusen could open the doors for Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran to join Al-Nassr instead.
The Colombian forward is also a reported target for the Saudi club, who are looking to bolster a frontline that already features Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane.
-Reuters
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Bundesliga
Leverkusen sidelines Boniface at training session over transfer issues with Ronaldo’s club
Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface was left out of training on Tuesday as German media reports linked the striker with a move to Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr, with manager Xabi Alonso saying negotiations for the player’s transfer were ongoing.
If the transfer materialises, Boniface will be a teammate of Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 24-year-old Boniface returned from injury on Saturday but was on the bench for Leverkusen’s 2-2 draw with RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga.
Before his injury in November, he had scored eight goals in 15 games in all competitions. Last season, he netted 14 goals in 23 league appearances to finish as their top scorer and played a pivotal role in securing Leverkusen’s first Bundesliga title.
“The situation with (Boniface) does exist. Negotiations are ongoing with the club, so we have to wait. Our preparation for the match remains the same,” Alonso told reporters ahead of the Champions League clash against Sparta Prague on Wednesday.
“We prepared (for the game) without Boni, of course. We still have to wait a little longer to see (how the situation unfolds),” the Spanish coach added.
“After Jeanu (Belocian) and Martin (Terrier) injuries we already said that we need to be active in the transfer window. Three days remain and we are so close (to a decision).
“I am and I will be happy with the squad (regardless). Until now, all players feel that they are ready and they are an important part of the team.”
Defender Belocian suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury at the start of the year and winger Terrier sustained an Achilles tendon rupture last week.
Leverkusen, eighth in the Champions League standings on 13 points, have already booked at least a knockout stage playoff spot while Sparta Prague, with four points from seven games, have been eliminated.
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